I, Hiroshi
by ayziks
Summary: Hiroshi Sato writes his own story of business success, his personal loss of his wife and the impact it had for him, and his views of his secret role in supporting the Equalist Insurrection. Avatar characters property of Nicklodeon.


**Title:** "I, Hiroshi"  
**Rating:** T – menacing words, remembrances of violence  
**Writer:** ayziks  
**Word Count:** 4300  
**Summary:** Hiroshi Sato writes his own story of business success, his personal loss of his wife and the impact it had for him, and his views of his secret role in supporting the Equalist Insurrection.

**Author's Notes:** Written for The Korra Connection's Vilain Week Writing Contest. The contest rules required first person writing in the form of the villain's manifesto.

...

"Hiroshi Sato is my name.

I am 50 years old and in the prime of my life. In my native tongue, my name means 'generous'. And for the better part of my life, I was. I was raised that way by my parents in Dragon Flats Borough. We had nothing but each other and whatever honest living we could make on a day to day basis.

As a kid, I did a lot of odd jobs. I enjoyed shining shoes the best, because in the reflection of the spit shine on the shoes of others I could see my dirty but determined face, reminding me that somehow I would get beyond that menial job and out of the slums. I had to leave Dragon Flats somehow – for I neither had the strength for hard labor on the docks, and I swore I'd never pursue a life of crime like so many of my little friends did – crushing others' lives to survive.

I have risen above that all now through the superiority of Equalism. I have learned it is perfectly justified to crush the lives of benders and anyone who is their ally, even if it includes family, for they suppressed us non benders for millennia.

I was never a bender, and no one in my family was, despite all of them living in a former Fire Nation colony, before the United Republic of Nations existed. All I had was my brain, and a keen desire about things that worked. I always fixed things around the house that weren't working, saving my parents their hard earned money.

My greatest mentor was my science teacher, who always made me believe I could do anything I set my mind on. I devoured his textbooks showing me the world and the man-made wonders that made the world yield to man's bidding. My parents mostly rolled their eyes at my dreams, but while I worked hard every day at home and after school and weekends, I never took my eyes off my goal of making a difference by using my mind.

Others did so before me, and rose from nothing too.

The Mechanist was my hero and idol. He was a non bender. His ideas helped both sides in the war, mostly because he was forced to, after losing his wife to Fire Nation benders, and having his paraplegic son's life threatened until Avatar set him free. He made a difference in Avatar Aang's grand plan to end the war and to bring peace between all nations, both bender and non bender. And after the war, the Mechanist brought more technology to the world to make it a better place in which to live for everyone.

He and Chief Sokka, another non bending inventor I admired, created Republic City. It was absolutely nothing like any city in the world because of their innovations. Machines of war – submarines, tanks, drills, and airships - gave way to their inventions that benefitted, not subdued, mankind: electricity, electrical power plants, elevators, skyscrapers, telephones, radio, and more. They built electric trolleys that permitted mass transit without earth bending human labor like in Ba Sing Se. They made the world like it is today – that is why Republic City is so advanced. One of the Mechanist's quotes is my favorite: "Technology makes a difference in our world".

It was a mantra I embraced in every way.

But most technology then depended on people's bending power to make it work, and the four basic elements – a lot of machines depended on steam and fire energy from water and fire benders. The Mechanist had to harness the power of human lightning bending to generate electricity.

The world was still totally dependent on bending by changing one form of energy to another. We had to get beyond that. And we had to bring more people together.

I always wanted to connect people together in ways that were better, faster, and cheaper than before, and whenever people wanted to go somewhere at any time and any place. Technology dependent on bending power wasn't going to get us there.

In one of my teacher's scientific newsletters, I read of the discovery of a new, strange flammable black liquid that came from under the ground. Most people thought it was too dangerous to do anything with. It had so much energy within it; it was almost like 'stored bending'. If I could harness that, I could be a great inventor of powerful new machines that would help people in ways we couldn't even imagine with steam engines, and give people comfort – not make them work harder. We wouldn't have to depend on bending power to make everything work, and people could have an easier life, as well as greatly enhance non benders' lives.

Harnessing the flammable liquid seemed like a perfect elixir to help bring Republic City people together closer, and followed the dream of uniting everyone that Avatar Aang had.

Whenever I wasn't working, I was drawing and inventing. They were all just ideas. I had no money, and no way to make what I imagined. It would never happen.

But one day my life changed, just before I graduated at age 18. The Mechanist, a very old man then, came to my school to send the message that even the poorest kids in town could achieve greatness. He came with the Avatar. It was inspiring. Two of the most important men in the world were right there in my school. One was a bender, one not, but their differences made not a whit of difference in their friendship and their ability to work together.

My science teacher got me a few minutes alone with the Mechanist. I was really nervous, but I got to explain my idea of a personal transportation device that anyone could have that was not powered by steam, or ostrich horses or any other living creature, but by the liquid that burned, and showed him the engine I designed that would power the vehicle.

The Mechanist loved it. Right after I graduated, he helped me get started right in his research laboratories at the University. He and his scientists and I made prototypes, and they worked marvelously. He helped me make my dream come true. Because they trusted him so much, his bankers loaned me the money to make my first Satomobile in a dilapidated building right down the street in the worst part of town.

I even got the name of my fledgling business from him, when he told me to never stop thinking about the future, so my company became "Future Industries".

Soon, everyone wanted a Satomobile. I expanded my plant constantly, and so many people wanted to be part of this new industry. With a Satomobile, anyone could have the freedom to go anywhere at any time and do anything by themselves or just with their family and friends. Future Industries took off. We made bigger models, and cargo carrying Satomobiles we called 'trucks', and sportier models. We began to sell around the world.

All that spawned an even bigger industry of making paved roads, and metal bridges, and stations that stored and sold all this liquid energy which we named 'petrol' along the roads, with restaurants to feed hungry travelers. The process of drilling and removing the petrol from the ground created its own highly profitable industry, especially in the Earth Kingdom. Future Industries got a piece of all that new business.

The population of the city exploded because of me. Soon, Future Industries was three times the size of Cabbage Corporation, an older, traditional company which had been around nearly a century. Three out of five workers in the city worked for me. And each of those created another seven jobs to support them. Future Industries drove the economy.

My wealth soared, and I built my mansion on the hill, and lived their comfortably with my parents, who were glad to be rid of their dingy apartment in Dragon Flats.

Aside from the Avatar and the Council, I was the most powerful person in the City. And I served them all well.

Then I met my wife, mostly by accident. I met plenty of power-hungry women at all the City's many social events, but I saw right through each of their schemes. The young woman who became my wife was driving a Satomobile in the country south of the City on her way to Yu Dao Province to interview for a nurse's job. She was in fact cursing her Satomobile, when I was driving by on business, and I fixed it for her, while she kept ranting away about how shoddy the Satomobile was. I gave her my business card to call me if she had any more trouble. I will never forget how wide her eyes went when she saw my name, while she had been complaining so much about her broken Satomobile.

She thought that I never argued about her complaints was charming and gentlemanly. One thing led to another and she became mine for what I thought was going to be all time. She loved me for me, and not for my name and fame.

People flocked from the countryside to get a job in Republic City, but not everyone was there for an honest living. There were those who preyed on the wealth of others. Crime rose against my employees and other citizens. So I aligned to help the police, this time turning my technology for the benefit of the Police – advanced airships, SatoPoliceCruisers, armored cars, and other crime-fighting devices.

Something else was going on the City. The balance between non benders and benders was shifting. In the early days, the City Council was well balanced between the factions, with a number of non benders leading our Nation. There seemed to be a slow shift to all benders. Taxes and legislation that affected my products began to be enacted. It was like the benders felt threatened by my technology.

While my lawyers limited the effects of misguided anti-technology politicians, I was too busy running my business to do anything about it. Personally, the benders didn't interfere with me. In fact, a lot of my workforce and senior leadership team were benders, and I never discriminated in their employment, so it didn't matter to me. Others who were more called to public activism noticed the trend, and there were a few who were very vocal in pointing out the growing inequalities.

One of those was a young man ten years younger than me named Amon.

When I first read of Amon, I thought he was just another criminal. He didn't wear a mask then, but did cover his scars and face with a scarf. That made him mysterious and worrisome to the authorities. And so I wrote him off. His talk of equality for everyone seemed a childish dream. I scoffed. The superiority of benders over non benders wasn't even a second thought to me.

But then, when my daughter turned one year old seventeen years ago, Avatar Aang died. Most of the Gaang that saved the world was gone too. Master Katara, in her grief, fled the city, and sequestered herself at the South Pole, far away from anything that reminded her of him. Only Aang's youngest son and young wife were left to carry on the vision of the City for benders and non benders alike, and to lead the Air Nation. Tenzin became the last air bender.

There was much despair in the City with the loss of Aang, and the clear direction he provided. After he was gone the message became muddled, and there were too many people claiming to carry on his legacy, when it was really twisted to be theirs. The new Avatar would be years in training before she could take his place. And to me, there was really no taking Aang's place. I was not the only one who thought so.

I saw the change then. Aang's children were different. They were well-meaning but less effective in keeping his vision, and less respected. It was natural – they were not the Avatar. Crime rocketed, and I had to create a lot of new inventions to help stem the crime wave, but it was very hard, and the Police were losing ground.

But the loss of the Avatar still didn't really affect me. I had to stay focused on the business, my employees, and an economy to sustain for my fortunes. The stress caused by crime waves on my employees affected productivity, and some were mugged and hurt, but that was about it. My wife and I had a young daughter to raise. What was happening in the politics of the city just didn't matter to me. Or so I thought.

Until what was happening kicked me right in the teeth when my daughter turned six.

I wanted her sixth birthday to be special, so I opened the mansion to a big party for her. Animals and entertainers abounded, and I opened the grounds to poor kids and orphans as one of my philanthropic outreaches. People didn't realize I could write the whole party off tax-free for my daughter as a donation to the community. I may have been generous but I was no dummy to take advantage of the laws. What I didn't know is that I let crime into my life that day, and have paid the price ever since.

As a multi-billion yuan tycoon, I gave and gave and gave to the City. Buildings and foundations and causes all had my name on them in the interest of philanthropy. Avatar Aang made me feel good about giving. After he was gone, those that followed made me feel obligated to give, until I felt there was nothing left to give.

On that day twelve years ago, the most precious thing in my life was taken from me. My wife.

A thug, a nobody like me at that age, disguised as a fireball juggler, trespassed on the mansion grounds, and took my wife's life because she gave everything of value she had to him. But that wasn't enough for the thief. He took her life too, just because she had everything, and he and his girlfriend had nothing at all. He burned my beautiful wife to a crisp, just 'because' in his rage to 'get even' with rich people. He got away just before I discovered her. I wept all night.

That loss, especially in the vindictive way he killed her, took a huge piece of my life forever, and so I was a changed man. I needed and desperately wanted revenge against that fire bender. His crime opened my eyes to all the advantages and privileges that benders have over non benders. There was not equality between the races, and it had always been there, even for me with my great influence and stature. I was too 'busy' to see or care that I was still only a second class citizen by being a non bender, so my revenge grew to include all benders. All of them were really the same, all taking advantage of the helpless non benders.

But I was a highly respected man, and was admired across the City and the world. I had a great fortune that I wanted passed on to my daughter intact and with honor. So I properly mourned, and cared every day for my daughter as though nothing had changed.

I dreamed every day just like I used to as yuan-less young man. Long ago I dreamed for success. But I grew to dream and plan every day after my wife's loss to exact my revenge on the bending world in a way that I could not be discovered, and dishonored, and not lose anything.

Republic City is known for its freedom of expression. Avatar Aang insisted on it in a world that had known only repression of thought and speech for a century. He had experienced that first hand as a secret student in a Fire Nation school. He championed the cause for new ideas to flourish, and only those who would espouse violence and revolt were dealt with.

I began to really notice Amon, who arrived in the city about the time my daughter Asami was born. He attracted only a few people who would listen to his message. He was considered extreme, was ridiculed by benders, and was dismissed by the populace. That disfigured face hidden behind a scarf scared people, long before he adopted his mask.

At the time I was totally despondent. I wandered the park one night incognito, not caring if I was mugged or killed. I heard Amon speak of all the equality mumbo jumbo, but as I was about to move on, I heard him tell his life story for the first time. It was a compelling story of a young man who lost his family in cold blood. To fire benders.

My own blood ran cold as I listened, and I actually shivered hearing his tale. It was nearly like my own story. I felt an instant bond with this young man beyond any logic. I may have been running a multi billion yuan industrial empire, but in reality I had nothing without my dear wife beside me to share it with.

I came back night after night, and his message made more and more sense to me. But his message was not getting out, so I arranged a meeting with his Lieutenant, who was a young man unknowingly injured by Avatar Aang, who wanted his own revenge.

We met in Dragon Flats, in an old haunt of mine. I told him my own story.

His reaction moved me, 'It looks like the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Join us in our cause to bring down the oppressive bender dictatorships, and make us not only their equals but their rulers.'

And so with my financial might, I helped him in his long plan of revenge. He was the front man, and I was the power behind him. I started subtlety by sponsoring fliers and posters for his rallies, buying ads in the newspapers, and air time on the radio, all as a 'secret benefactor'.

Keeping the secret of my hate for benders was hard, but fortunately I had a release through the Equalists' clandestine meetings. It was so easy to lie to my daughter where I was going at night. Two decades ago I'd have never done that, but the end justified the means of revenge: overthrow of the benders. I helped Amon with his image by getting my best sculptors and artists to make him the mask he wore, and then blackmailed them into silence, not long before they all met with unfortunate fatal industrial accidents.

The might of the bending police and the defense forces of the Republic were formidable. I had outfitted them all, but because of that I knew their weaknesses, and exploited that. I was the 'new' Mechanist – supplying both sides of the undeclared war, but the side that had been right before was now corrupted and defiled, and so I dedicated my soul and inventive genius to Equalism.

The Equalists got my best work in decades, with technologies that are far beyond the present day's ability to defend against, to make up for non benders' weaknesses against bending combatants. I studied all the biological weaknesses of every bending discipline, and what it took to defeat each one. I created weapons that reacted faster than bending does, and taught chi blockers to react instinctually faster than bending moves. Bender moves are slower than anyone realizes.

I hid every new innovation to defeat benders that I created. Because of all my building maintenance and transportation contracts with the City, I had unlimited access to the underground tunnels and corridors of the City, and locked out all other companies by acquiring them. Then I could build the Equalist underground transportation and communications networks. I could provide exclusive patrols underground without the Police interfering, and could create my underground weapons laboratory hidden underneath my mansion.

There is created my finest weapons: the mecha tank to protect an Equalist warrior against all forms of bending and overpower benders' innate strength. It was cleverly based on my most powerful forklift products, and made of Platinum to evade the metal benders because of its metallic purity. Even more clever, and easily hidden, was something to attack and disrupt their chi the way chi blockers are trained. It was faster and allowed Equalists to attack by surprise from farther away: the taser glove and taser disc. It directly disrupts all bender synapses and chi, and boy does it work. That night in the Arena, and all the other times it was my proudest work to see Tenzin and Lin collapse helplessly, and so too Korra and Mako. And it causes them great pain as it works. I am equally proud of the fighter aeroplanes, aerial bombs, sea mines and torpedoes. The Republic forces were initially helpless against them, and it was unfortunate that General Iroh II and Korra and their seemingly limitless bending power in those final battles defeated these weapons.

If the battle had continued, I was only a few weeks away from perfecting a long range rocket that I would have launched from a secret island that would have leveled Republic City with a single bomb. It would have left the city area uninhabitable for centuries, while Amon and I ruled the Republic from another province. It would have provided the final solution to the air bender infestation too. The power of that weapon would have caused all the other nations to capitulate to the superiority of Equalism.

As blessings of the spirits would have it, I got to use the taser glove on the bender I hated the most. My wife's killer.

Ever since she was murdered, I learned from informants that he was an Agni Kai Gang member. So I let the word get out to the rival gangs of the underworld I would reward the person handsomely who delivered me my wife's murderer. Well they did. And they are a lot richer and no trouble to me as a result now.

I know now how much a bender can take from my glove's shocks without dying. Let's just say I didn't then, but the man who killed my wife helped teach me. Slowly. It was a great experiment with live subjects that I never thought about doing in school. Most people are due respect no matter what, and some are simply there to be crushed.

There really wasn't much left of him when I discovered what the lethal dose was. After awhile he begged me to end him. So I obliged, but not before I made it as agonizing as possible – much like the agony he has caused me every day for 12 years. His passing didn't bring her back, but it did make me feel a lot better. For a little bit.

But rather than make me feel better permanently, my hate for benders in general and fire benders in particular remained. You can appreciate how much it pained me for my daughter to fall for that fire bender Mako. But characteristic for fire benders, he jilted her, a non bender, for another bender – the ultimate bender Korra - and hurt Asami terribly. I don't know how she can stand being around any of them, especially Mako and Korra.

No one was aware of any of my secret involvement with the Equalists, until that cursed Avatar Korra and Chief Lin got nosy. Had my turncoat daughter and those disgusting Pro Bending boys not intervened, my trap to capture and destroy Korra and her allies would have worked, and my weapons would have overwhelmed the Republic forces.

Not that it matters anyway – my daughter became a stranger to me. I don't care what happens to her any more. Yes I admit I tried to kill her, and that is one of many reasons I am here on Boiling Rock. She is now no better than any bender, and no longer my daughter.

So my life of promise and invention and generosity has become an existence of sabotage, lies, and betrayal here at the end - by my daughter, Avatar Korra, her friends, and even the repulsive hypocrite blood bender Amon, and his brother! There were so many secrets within secrets. I really should have known – each brother took a different means to the end for them – one for the side of bending superiority; the other for the supremacy of non benders. Ultimately they destroyed each other in separate paths for revenge for their father against a long dead Avatar.

It is so laughingly sad that I have come to realize neither side was right. All of it was just senseless violence, death, and destruction that my inventions wrought on one side against the other. If only my science teacher could see me now. He taught me chaos theory. I lived it.

All of them should spend eternity in Koh's face collection. It would be fitting - as every one of them were two-faced in the end. It is ironic that I was too.

Amon and Tarrlok took the easy way out. So I sit here on Boiling Rock for the rest of my days. My daughter didn't even let me have the dignity to die by execution - all in the name of her remaining love and compassion for me, even though she stared death in her face by my hands. She'll never make it in business that way. Compassion is a farce.

So my unfulfilled desire for revenge in my wife's name will take me to my grave one useless day at a time. My mind means nothing here, and no one has any intelligence to share anyway. I am back to doing useless odd jobs here in prison.

My eternity lasts here on earth, and the ultimate revenge is on me – that I am still agonizingly separated from my wife. Funny; I wonder if she'll even want me back when I get to the spirit world.

Wouldn't that be the ultimate equalizer?"


End file.
